Attitude toward non-Bahá'ís regarding sexuality

Non-judgmental and patient attitude toward others of differing views[edit]

Individuals to be uncensorious and forbearant toward others (while being personally pure)[edit]

"If Bahá'í youth combine such personal purity with an attitude of uncensorious forbearance towards others they will find that those who may have criticized or even mocked them will come, in time, to respect them. They will, moreover, be laying a firm foundation for future married happiness."

(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to a Local Spiritual Assembly, July 9, 1973, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1213)

Bahá'í youth should not indict non-Bahá'í friends for loose morality (but should not follow their ways)[edit]

"...The young people who are living between these two eras, and seeing the destruction of old institutions are therefore apt to discard all respect for them and in fact view with contempt any person that may still cherish the old. Hence we see the loose morality prevalent among them. This condition is not true only of America and Europe but also of the East, and I dare say in the East more than in the West.

"Even though the Bahá'í Youth should feel with the condition in which they see their non-Bahá'í friends and not indict them for it, they should not let themselves be carried by the wave of world events as they are being carried. ... To make them follow our ways we should sympathize with their plight but should not follow their ways. We should take our stand on a higher plane of moral and spiritual life and, setting for them the true example, urge them up to our level. The young people should read what Bahá'u'lláh and the Master say on such matters and follow them conscientiously. That is if they desire to be true to the teachings and establish them throughout the world."

(On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 26 October 1932 to an individual believer, published in "Bahá'í News" 443 (February 1968), p. 8; in Youth (compilation), no. 2253)

Not to impose values on others (or judge)[edit]

Bahá’í community does not seek to impose its values on others nor pass judgment on others[edit]

"In attempting to reconcile what may appear to be conflicting obligations, it is important to understand that the Bahá’í community does not seek to impose its values on others, nor does it pass judgment on others on the basis of its own moral standards. It does not see itself as one among competing social groups and organizations, each vying to establish its particular social agenda. In working for social justice, Bahá’ís must inevitably distinguish between those dimensions of public issues that are in keeping with the Bahá’í Teachings, which they can actively support, and those that are not, which they would neither promote nor necessarily oppose."

(On behalf of the Universal House of Justice, at https://bahai-library.com/uhj_homosexuality_civil_rights )

Individuals not to be coerced regarding those with different views of sexuality and not to judge or attempt to impose these on society[edit]

"While Bahá’ís hold specific beliefs about human identity, sexuality, personal morality, and individual and social transformation, they also believe that individuals must be free to investigate truth and should not be coerced. They are, therefore, enjoined to be tolerant of those whose views differ from their own, not to judge others according to their own standards, and not to attempt to impose these standards on society."

(On behalf of the Universal House of Justice, at https://bahai-library.com/uhj_attitude_changes_homosexuality )